


Lifeline

by GrowlingPeanut



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Minor Angst, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 05:18:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18543058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrowlingPeanut/pseuds/GrowlingPeanut
Summary: Troy relies on Tyreen for his life, but the co-dependency goes both ways. Without him, she has nothing.





	Lifeline

Some days were almost normal. He’d grin, all sharp teeth and hard lines, and they’d bask in the blind adoration of thousands. Some days were harder. He’d hide the dark circles of a sleepless night with a smudge of eyeliner. They wouldn’t spend as long in front of the crowd. Some days, she was the only one to make an appearance. The bandits would murmur, but she stole the questions from their minds.

The bad days were getting more frequent. The usual offerings weren’t enough. He wouldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep. The fever returned, creeping steadily higher. After fighting with burning skin and cold sweat for so long, his angry complaints gave way to sullen silence. She did everything she could, but a small, insistent part of her heart knew that if they didn’t do something drastic, and soon, then she’d lose him.

This was the fourth day in a row. A renewed wave of harsh coughing from the next room made her hands falter, halfway through wringing out a wet cloth. She knew what it felt like, being burned alive from the inside out, having icy fire racing through your veins. The only difference was that it made _her_ unstoppable. It was _killing_ him.

“…Troy.” Soft steps carried her to his bedside. He didn’t look up, just held out his hand. She tried not to sigh as she gave him the cloth. This was an old routine by now. He would sit there, pale and shaking, pretending he didn’t need the help. They both knew that if he looked at her, she’d see the pain and the fear and suddenly, they’d be four years old again and she’d be seeing that expression as if it were the first time and she’d get so desperate to help him, to save him, to make him _stop hurting_ that she’d do _anything_ and–

“Thanks, Ty,” he finally rasped, pulling the cloth away from his face.

She could see blood on it. “Yeah, sure thing.” The words sounded too casual against the backdrop of her heavy heartbeat.

He leaned against the wall. Half-heartedly tried to blow his hair out of his eyes. It devolved into another coughing fit.

She studied the floor, waiting for it to pass. They couldn’t keep going like this. It was nothing short of a miracle that they’d made it this far and Troy’s borrowed time was quickly running out. She knew it. He knew it. Pretty soon, their followers would catch on. They’d lose their status. No one would want to follow a dying god.

“You should go out there.”

She looked up.

A smirk played at the edges of his lips, but it didn’t go deeper than the surface. “I know what you’re thinkin’ about.” He nodded toward the door. “Get out there. Give ‘em something to believe in.”

She knew what went unsaid. Those bandits weren’t the only ones who needed faith in her. Taking a deep breath, she started toward the door. She heard the rumble of hushed voices on the other side. Murmurs of curiosity, questions, the slow, persistent chant of “ _calypso, calypso_.”

She paused with her hand on the door and glanced back at Troy. It was like looking into a mirror. She felt like a child again, confused, terrified, wrestling with the consequences of her power, not fully understanding what she’d done. It had been more of an instinct, a reflex, than anything else. Her brother needed help, she provided it. Simple.

She pushed the door open, letting that familiar fire sweep up her arm. The noise of the crowd swelled into cheers. Louder chanting. She knew what she had to do. He was all she had left.

**Author's Note:**

> (My headcanon for the Calypso Twins is that Troy has struggled with chronic illness his whole life, due to being the twin of a Siren. Tyreen's constant transferal of power is pretty much the only thing keeping him alive. In order to keep him from dying when they were very young children, she accidentally killed her parents with her newly-awakened powers, siphoning the life out of them and giving it to Troy.)


End file.
